Our top overall selection Kristian Campbell is the only available player in MLB.com's Top 30 overall prospects, a sign of just how strong Roger Dorn Baseball League Front Offices have become and the potential lack of star power available in the 2025 Reserve Draft. Despite the lack of big name targets, plenty of talent remains that should have RDBL Clubs still fighting for additional early round selections.
With about three months left, here's our first 2025 Reserve Mock Draft with the Meinert Hops making the top overall selection for the second consecutive season after making Charlie Condon the first pick in 2024.
*1. Meinert Hops: OF Kristian Campbell, Red Sox
Acquired from Cloverdale Clovers
In a year, Campbell transformed from a hit-over-power second baseman into one of the best all-around hitters in the minor leagues. Campbell took to Boston’s bat speed training and it’s yielded some of the best offensive production in baseball. Campbell has a strong combination of bat-to-ball skills, power, speed and defensive versatility that has seen him climb three levels of the minors in 2024.
2. Asti Grape Stompers: RHP Tyler Bremner, UC Santa Barbara
Bremner enters the 2025 draft season as one of a trio of elite pitching prospects in the class alongside Florida State’s Jamie Arnold and California prepster Seth Hernandez. He’s a lean righthander with a 6-foot-2, 180-pound frame and excellent feel for a three-pitch mix. Bremner sits 94-96 mph with a fastball that touches 98 and features excellent riding life. He also has a pair of secondaries with plus potential: a mid-80s tumbling changeup and a mid-80s gyro slider with snappy finish. He pitched well with Team USA over the summer and owns a 31.1% strikeout rate and 6.4% walk rate in two seasons with UC Santa Barbara, but he hasn’t started more than eight games in a single season.
3. Lunatic Fringe: RHP Brandon Sproat, New York Mets
Sproat moved three levels reaching Triple-A while displaying a good balance of stuff and the ability to execute with it. Sproat mixes a four-seam fastball that sits 95-97 mph and has touched 101 mph with a slider, curveball and changeup. The fastball, slider and changeup give Sproat three average or better offerings with a chance to settle in as an upper-tier arm in Queens.
4. St. Joseph Jokers: 2B Christian Moore, Los Angeles Angels
The Angels’ first-round pick made waves as he springboarded to Double-A shortly after the draft. Moore has a chance to break camp with the big league club to start 2025 as the Angels have shown to be aggressive with their top prospects. Moore has plus power, on-base ability and the barrel control to optimize his best contact.
5. Mission Viejo Maulers: SS Bryce Rainer, Detroit Tigers
One of the only big-time 2024 MLB Draft prospects to slip through the RDBL cracks, Rainer isn't expected to last long in March. He was the best player at the National High School Invitational this spring, and while he still pitched a little, he vaulted himself to the top half of the Draft as a position player. The Tigers were happy to take him 11th overall and signed him to a $5.8 million bonus.
6. Burlingame Blue Ducks: LHP Jamie Arnold, Florida State
Arnold is the top-ranked lefthander in the class and would have been the most impressive pitcher in the ACC in 2024 if it weren’t for former Wake Forest flamethrower Chase Burns. Arnold made a leap in performance as a sophomore and posted a 2.98 ERA over 18 starts and 105.2 innings, with a 35.4% strikeout rate and 5.8% walk rate. He throws from a low three-quarters slot and creates plenty of armside run with a 93-95 mph fastball that has been up to 97. He’ll also mix in a trio of secondaries: a mid-80s sweeping slider, a low-80s curveball and a mid-80s changeup.
7. Meinert Hops: SS Kevin McGonigle, Detroit Tigers
A hamate injury ended McGonigle’s 2024 season in mid-August, but by then he’d already accomplished a lot. He was one of the best hitters in the Florida State League before earning a promotion to High-A West Michigan.
8. Mt. Diablo Devils: OF James Tibbs III, San Francisco Giants
Tibbs’ career at Florida State started quickly and loudly in 2022, when he swatted 10 home runs as a freshman. He added 17 more in his sophomore year and then an Atlantic Coast Conference-best 28 in his draft season, when he was a first-team All-American. All told, he finished his time in Tallahassee with 55 doubles in 176 games. In between, he posted a solid summer hitting with wood in the Cape Cod League, batting .303/.390/.472 with six home runs in 40 games in 2023. Tibbs’ outstanding track record was enough for the Giants to draft him 13th overall in 2024 and sign him for $4,747,500 before splitting his pro debut between Low-A San Jose and High-A Eugene.
9. San Mateo Oppo Tacos: 3B Cam Smith, Houston Astros
Smith earned All-America honors and led Florida State to the College World Series by batting .387 with 16 homers in 2024, a prelude to going 14th overall in the Draft to the Cubs and signing for $5,070,700. He reached Double-A at the conclusion of a strong pro debut, then went to the Astros in the Kyle Tucker trade in December.
10. Nashville Aristocrats: RHP Jarlin Susana, Washington Nationals
On raw stuff alone there are few pitchers that can match Susana on the planet. His four-seam fastball sits 100 mph and has touched 103 mph this season, but his high-80s-to-low-90s slider is the jewel of his arsenal. Susana will never have above-average command, but has shown enough control of his three-pitch mix to continue starting for years to come. A former key piece of the trade for Juan Soto, Susana would settle in nicely to a 'Crats Farm System that is turning out big league starters on a regular basis.
*11. San Mateo Oppo Tacos: C Moises Ballesteros, Chicago Cubs
Acquired from Honolulu Hammerheads
Ballesteros is an advanced hitting catcher with elite barrel control and above-average in-game power. He has seen a majority of his time defensively behind the plate, where he’s a below-average defender. Few hitters reach Triple-A at 20 years old and perform the way Ballesteros has. Despite defensive questions, Ballesteros has the hitting chops to force his way into a lineup.
12. Spokane Fightin' Fish: RHP Caden Dana, Los Angeles Angels
Dana dominated Double-A for five months before making his MLB debut on Sept. 1. Dana can execute with five pitches, led by a 93-95 mph fastball and a slider, cutter, curveball and changeup. Dana’s stuff is solid but it’s his ability to move the ball around the zone that keeps hitters off balance.
13. Maltese Falcons: LHP Thomas White, Miami Marlins
Most young pitching prospects burn hot and cold, mixing dominating outings with very difficult ones. White has managed to avoid that, as he’s been consistently impressive start after start.
*14. San Mateo Oppo Tacos: LHP Quinn Mathews, St. Louis Cardinals
Acquired from Lake Merced Goutfish
A substanial velocity bump helped Mathews jump from a pitchability lefty with a rotation depth ceiling to a potential midrotation piece for the Cardinals. Mathews now sits 94-95 mph with above-average ride on his four-seam fastball mixing a trio of secondaries. Mathews jumped all four full-season levels of the minors and looks like he could be in the mix for starts with the Cardinals in 2025.
15. Alamo Short Stacks: RHP Seth Hernandez, Corona HS
Hernandez is a better pitching prospect than any high school player from the 2024 class and draws comparisons to pre-injury Dylan Lesko from the 2022 class thanks to his two-way ability, athleticism, fastball velocity and excellent changeup. While prep righties are a risky demographic, it’s easy to make a case for Hernandez having the highest overall upside in the class thanks to a mid-90s fastball that’s up to 98 with good extension, a projectable 6-foot-4 frame and a double-plus changeup with huge velocity separation and great movement that stymies lefties and righties.
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